Down N Dirty #4..Behind the Scenes in Queer Filmmaking..w/ BILL BASQUIN

Femina Potens Gallery showcases its innovative monthly film series Down & Dirty: the Intimate World of Queer Filmmaking Saturday, May 27, 2006, featuring selected shorts from queer filmmaker Bill Basquin.

The ongoing series features film and dialogue with Bay Area Queer Filmmakers as part of Femina Potens 2006 Film Screenings. Celebrate and promote local queer, trans, and women video artists as we feature intimate conversations with local filmmakers, a shot-by-shot analysis of the filmmaking process, stories from behind the scenes, and the inside scoop on San Francisco’s filmmaking community followed up by Q & A from the audience.

Bill Basquin's work in the Bay Area has spanned nearly a decade. His first short, The Ride, premiered in Frameline and was one of the first Bay Area shorts to explore gender. All of Basquin's films have been shot on celluloid film, to some, this is considered a 'dying format' in the digital age, his choice to use this format will be discussed as well as his experiences at Sundance Film Festival, 2006. His recent black and white documentaries about farm life and masculinity are breathtaking glimpses at a world often forgotten. Basquin's work is always thoughtful, meditative and engages the viewer with wit.

Artist Bio:
Bill Basquin is searching for the fusion between urban and rural within his own life. He was born into a small railroad town in north central Indiana, moved to Wisconsin, grew up, built a lot of theatre sets, worked for a photographer, went to college, drove a cab, then moved to San Francisco in 1995 where he has since become an award-winning film director and lighting professional. The list of his independent film work is long and varied, including: Live, Nude, Girls UNITE!; Maquiapolis; By Hook or By Crook; The Pearl Suspended; Come Nightfall; and Strand: a Natural History of Cinema. As a director and cinematographer, he recently completed a series of short films about farming, rural life and families, of which the most recent, Range, screened at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. His forthcoming project, Soiled, is an experimental documentary that re-imagines the city as a place where people practice agriculture. He is currently a member of the Board of Film Arts Foundation.
http://www.billbasquin.com

Shani Heckman, Guest Curator is a long-time activist, publicist and creator of Shanestar Productions, recipient of the Film Arts Foundation's STAND grant 2003 and is a second year film student at City College. She has been curating sold-out queer film screening events for the past three years. Her recent short doc Wrong Bathroom has been broadcast on National TV and is currently touring the festival circuit. She is currently Co-Director of the forthcoming film Godspeed based upon the award-winning novel of the same name by Lynn Breedlove. http://www.godspeedfilm.com

Femina Potens is a nationally recognized art gallery and performance space dedicated to the advancement of women and trans-folk through art. Sponsored by the Queer Cultural Center, with support from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Femina Potens is one of the leading queer organizations in San Francisco. Femina Potens has been featured on the Australian television show, Out and About, Q-Television, the documentary TranArchy, Japan's Foil Magazine, Bitch Magazine, and the San Francisco Guardian, which called Femina Potens a crucial bit of justice.